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About 500 plush dogs and cats are spread out with help from Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Corey Cavalieri on Thursday at the Aaron Center in Dickson City, with more stuffed animals to be donated in the next few weeks.
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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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By Jim Lockwood
/
Published: July 16, 2014

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Felicia, 4 and Julia O'Neill, 9 hide under a picnic table as they play hide and seek in Fellows Park on South Main Ave. in Scranton. Playground equipment there was removed and Scranton City Council is considering whether to accept a $10,000 grant from the county for park improvements . Michael J. Mullen / Staff Photographer

Scranton leaders are debating whether to put playground equipment back at a small, sparse park on the city’s west side.

Fellows Park on South Main Avenue had a playground for 20 years until it was removed by the city a few years ago. The playground was set back on the rear of the lot and had long been a magnet for vandalism and troublemakers, according to councilmen and a neighborhood civic leader.

There also are questions about whether the park — which is named for one of Scranton’s early settlers, Joseph Fellows, and was a burial ground for his family — could still contain some graves, the civic leader said.

The debate arose after Mayor Bill Courtright had the city apply for and receive a $10,000 grant earlier this year from Lackawanna County to install playground equipment at Fellows Park.

“I just thought we could give those children in that neighborhood something,” Mr. Courtright said. “I thought for that neighborhood, they could use a park.”

Councilmen Bob McGoff, Bill Gaughan and Joe Wechsler, as well as Karin Foster, president of West Scranton Hyde Park Neighborhood Watch question putting a playground back. Council in June introduced a resolution to accept the grant but immediately tabled it for review. The city had used a federal grant to refurbish the park in 2011, when residents wanted the playground equipment removed.

“We already spent money in that park and we took the playground out. Why would you want to put it back in?” Mr. Gaughan asked. Mr. McGoff added, “That was a problem area when it had a playground and we took it out, Why are we in need of putting it back?”

Mr. Wechsler said, “I want some more input from the neighbors in the area because they wanted it taken out.” Ms. Foster said the park is better suited to remain as open green space and, “it is a concern to put something in there that’s proven not to work in the past.”

Councilman Pat Rogan favors a playground because, “in that area of West Scranton, the kids don’t have a place to play.”

He and the mayor said placing a playground in the park’s front, along with better lighting, a curfew and police patrols should ensure it won’t become a problem.

Children make do with the park’s sparse amenities and play around trees, a pavilion and a monument to Mr. Fellows that is being overtaken by weeds and vegetation.

A 2003 book by Aileen Sallom Freeman titled, “The Land No One Wanted” states the lot had been “Fellows Graveyard” for 72 years before it became a city park in 1915. Remains of the dead were removed and interred elsewhere but coffins were found in only 18 of the 35 graves. The stone pillar was a gravemarker initially topped by an urn, the book states.

Council members said the city solicitor checked into the graveyard issue and found it is not a cemetery. Ms. Foster remains unconvinced and said the city should consider using ground-penetrating radar to determine whether any graves remain.

“They certainly should be looking into making sure they are not disturbing a burial plot,” Ms. Foster said.

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